Satellite Relay Station
by CS Tracy
Summary: Oneshot. Alan and Tin-tin share a few words as they wait for Fermat to make contact with Thunderbird Five, but just as Alan thinks they're getting along...


**So, this is my first story on here. Don't hate it, please! You'll find that I like to do a lot of exploring around the movie and filling in gaps, etc. Leave a review if you want and…**

**Enjoy!**

**oOo**

It was colder up here than on the rest of the island. The height required for the signals to reach John up in Five meant that Dad had selected the highest point on the island for the satellite relay station.

I paced and rubbed my arms against the wind as Fermat fiddled with the circuit board. Tin-tin watched me with a strange expression on her face.

"How does it feel?" she asked suddenly.

"What?" We may have been being civil to each other, but only because our families were in danger. Civil was as far as it went.

"When they come on TV in your dorm or common room or whatever. How does it feel, cheering along with the rest, but knowing a little more than they do?"

"Well, you tell me," I retorted. "I'm pretty sure Fermat feels the same way as I do. It can't be that different for you."

Her only response was to turn away and stare at the ground.

"Oh!" I thought about what I'd just assumed. "Sorry, I forgot. You're-"

"On a home-ed study program, yes," she agreed. "And before that…well, let's just say there weren't very many schools around where we used to live. I didn't know about you guys then, anyway."

I nodded, remembering that Dad had invited the Kyranos to come live with us after the mine collapse he'd saved Tin-tin's father from. They very same collapse, I now realised, that the Hood must have been talking about in Command and Control.

"So, tell me. I've had it easy. I've never been off this island since I arrived here. How hard is it to keep the secret?"

"It's…hard at first," I told her. "Especially when, you know, they can't save someone and everyone's shouting and cursing at them. It's hard to keep quiet then."

She didn't take her eyes off my face, totally absorbed in what I was saying.

"It's even harder when they're being celebrated. Like, it's so hard not to go, 'I'm a part of that!' Even though I'm not," I added as a bitter afterthought.

"Well, after today I don't see why you shouldn't be." Tin-tin shrugged, apparently unaware of how much that meant to me.

"You…you think so?"

"'Course I do. I know for a fact that they only ship you off to school and make you stay on the island to keep you safe, but after today they may be rethinking that policy."

Oh. So much for the praise.

"And look at what you've done already. If this isn't proving yourself, I don't know what is."

"S-s-s-still," Fermat butted in. "It's even h-h-h-more difficult to keep quiet in double Math, when dr-dr-dr-doodling on a jotter is more a-ap-appe-fun."

All three of us laughed at the same time.

"What did you draw?"

"Umm…nothing exciting?"

"Would it have anything to do with the ten thousand words Virgil saw you struggling with this morning before you decided to unground yourself and head to the beach?

I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised. As they were both engineers and had similar interests, Tin-tin spent a lot of time with my middle brother. I don't know why it made me so jealous, though. "Uhh…"

"Nice one. So, what did you draw?"

"I drew One, with 'Thunderbirds are Go' written on it."

"You _what_?" Tin-tin's voice was rapidly reaching sonic pitch. Any more of that and we wouldn't have to send a signal up to Five to get noticed by the Hood.

"You _idiot_! Nobody else knows your dad says that! Wouldn't they wonder where it's come from?"

"That's what I t-to-tol-said."

"Seriously, Fermat, the Pythagorean theorem? How is that going to help me land a rocket ship?"

"You can calculate trajectory angles," Tin-tin argued.

"A-a-and we were just about to g-get onto da Vinci."

"Oh, I give up on you."

There was a long silence. I knew I should tell Dad about what had happened in school, but I'd just been so mad. A pang hit my gut as I realised I may never have a chance to make it up to him. Or to Scott, for firing up his bird. Or to Virgil, for being so rude to him this morning. Or to Gordon, for being so rude to him at dinner last night. Or John, the only member of my family who I was currently on good terms with, but who I just wanted to see and make sure he was safe. I shuddered and turned my thoughts away from that dark route.

"You okay?" I asked Tin-tin. She seemed unusually downcast all of a sudden.

"Just…thinking."

"Don't strain anything."

"Funny. No, I was just wondering…how can that man be my uncle? My dad never mentioned him. He didn't even tell me that I shared the same powers with someone-"

"So it _was_ you that got rid of the scorpion?" I cut in.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because you saved my life. And, because, it was…_awesome_."

She cracked a smile. "Thanks…I think."

"You think?"

"Dad always told me to never use my powers once we got to the island. He said that they were really dangerous. I guess he was thinking of the Hood and his mine."

"It'll be fine," I promised her quietly, thinking that we may have progressed to being slightly more than civil, before turning away. "How we doing there, Fermat?"

"Don't rush me, Alan, this is very delicate equipment-" There was a spark and a most un-masculine shriek. I really had to get him out of that habit. Tin-tin and I rushed to the satellite antenna, where Fermat was gasping in shock and shaking his head. "Which is now b-b-b-broken."

"Can you fix it?" I asked desperately. This could be my family's last chance. Already they were running through my head. Scott and Virgil, so alike on the inside they could be twins. John, the calm one, who dedicated more of his life than any of us to International Rescue and was now hurt. Dad, who I'd never apologised to for last night. And Gordon, my best friend and partner in crime. What would I do without them?

"I'll t-try," Fermat promised, pulling at one of the elements. "I'd need something to start it with, though."

I couldn't help but smile widely and laugh, despite the situation. "We're in the middle of nowhere, Fermat. Where're you gonna get something like that?"

Fermat and Tin-tin watched me talk, slow grins spreading over their faces, before sharing a sly look. I stared between the two of them, confused.

"What?"

**oOo**

**Thanks for reading and let me know what you think.**

_**~*CSJ*~**_


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